Ruff

ruff¹

1. a natural growth of long or coloured hair or feathers around the necks of certain animals or birds

2. 

a. an Old World shore bird, Philomachus pugnax, the male of which has a large erectile ruff of feathers in the breeding season: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc.), order Charadriiformes

b. the male of this bird

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ruff² Cards

1. another word for trump

2. an old card game similar to whist

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Ruff 

(Acerina cernua), a fish of the perch family. Length, 10–15 cm (rarely reaching 30 cm); weight, 20–50 g (sometimes reaching 200 g).

The ruff is found in bodies of water in northern Asia and northern and central Europe; in the USSR its range extends from the Baltic basin to Kolyma. It lives primarily in lakes, but is also found in rivers with sluggish currents. More rarely it is found in salt water—for example, in the Aral Sea. The ruff usually lives in schools near the bottom. Sexual maturity comes at an age of two or three years. Spawning takes place from April to June on sandy or rocky land, or in floodplains on vegetation. The eggs are laid in portions with intervals of several days between individual spawnings. Fertility ranges from 4,000 to 200,000 eggs. The ruff feeds on invertebrates of the bottom and on the fry and eggs of other fish. It is caught everywhere t9gether with other fish, and should be fished intensively, since it is a competitor of more valuable commercial fishes.

REFERENCE

Berg, L. S. Ryby presnykh vod SSSR i sopredel’ nykh stran, 4th ed., part 3. Moscow-Leningrad, 1949.

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Ruff 

(Philomachus pugnax), a male bird of the family Charadriidae, suborder Limicolae. The body length is approximately 26 cm. Ruffs weigh approximately 170 g, and the females, which are called reeves, weigh 100 g. In the spring the males develop a ruff and ear tufts, usually white, red, or black-green or in various combinations of these colors. In winter the males and females are similarly colored. The bird is distributed in the tundra and for esttundra of Europe and Asia, in some places as far south as the forest-steppe; it winters in Africa and South Asia. It is polygamous. In spring the males conduct fierce mating displays. The bird nests on the ground in moist meadows and swamps. There are four eggs per clutch. The reeve broods for 21 days and cares for the young. The bird feeds on insects and other small invertebrates, and sometimes on seeds.